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February 2006

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Feb 20, 2006

Quote of the week - Jerry Sandoval

"I have tremendous
respect for veterans and I have sponsored many resolutions at the Board of
Supervisors supporting veterans' benefits. In fact, I put a $120 million
measure on the ballot in 2002 to rebuild San Francisco's War Memorial."

Supervisor Sandoval found himself in front of an audience outside of the 48 square miles that comprises San Francisco proper, in other words it was hostile territory... otherwise known as Fox News' Hannity & Colmes. Incredibly, he said that the U.S. should not have a military, said it not once but twice and again today in an op-ed in the SF Comical. I don't know what this guy is thinking but it really is scarry to think that SF has gone this far into the abyss.

Back to the quote of the day, and it's a real laugher. Sandoval takes pride in his respect for veterans, which I presume is intended to have us believe he respects the military in general. As evidence of this deep respect he reaches into his deep bag of legislative victories and points proudly to the, drumroll, ballot measure he sponsored to rebuild the War Memorial. Now I know that many of you reading this are not from the area and are asking yourself "but Jeff, what's the big deal, it's a war memorial right?". Allow me to give you the full name for the war memorial in question: San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. Yes, it is the opera house that Sandoval spent $120 million of SF taxpayer money to rebuild. There is a Veterans Building that is also part of the complex; The Herbst Theater, as well as the SF Arts Commission Gallery call that building home... I don't know if there are any actual veterans in the area but a large number of the panhandlers out front do have "veteran" on their signs.

Finally, a war memorial that most San Franciscans can support. As for me, I'd rather have the USS Iowa berthed here.

Comments

Jeff, My dad's a veteran. Several of my employees served in Desert Storm or Desert Fox... Among all the fine Americans I've had the pleasure to know the U.S. Veteran (next to the fire dept and the police officer) gets top slot in my view.

Sandoval's GOT to be pandering to some base (if not just for the cameras). I'm proud people have the right to say what they want, when they want, where they want. But, the Supervisor would do well to remember HOW that privlege was earned and retained... And, it wasn't by way of the three tenors.

Sandoval is quite popular in SF because of his extreme views, thankfully, they don't play so well outside of SF and Berkeley.

The problem with people like Sandoval is that they think you can send police officers to protect your freedoms or that "we'll just figure it out" when the threat becomes so apparent that even the most liberal among us cannot deny it.

But you have to remember that even in the late 1930's there were prominent Americans saying that German citizens elected Hitler and they just wanted their trains to run on time and to have jobs.

Sandoval will never recognize the threat the West faces today because his distaste for the military is so high that he can never imagine a legitimate use for the projection of power abroad.